Being Proactive: Where Action Research Meets Design Research

IS research has been criticized for having little influence on practice.
One approach to achieving more relevance is to conduct research using
appropriate research methods that balance the interests of both researchers
and practitioners. This paper examines the similarities between two
methods that address this mandate by adopting a proactive stance
to investigating information systems in organizations. These two
approaches, action research and design research, both directly intervene
in â€œreal worldâ€� domains and effect changes in these domains. We investigate
these similarities by examining exemplars of each type of research
according to the criteria of the other. Our analysis reveals interesting
parallels and similarities between the two suggesting that the two
approaches have much to learn from each other. Based on our analysis,
we propose ways to facilitate cross-fertilization between the two
approaches that we believe will be useful for both and for IS research
in general.